Handling snowmobiles in a service area or showroom is a troublesome nuisance. Even if the engines are in condition to be started, ventilation in these areas is almost always inadequate. If the transmission can be disengaged, they can be pushed in the normal direction of travel only with considerable effort, as a result of the drag of the forward ski unit. Moving these vehicles laterally requires that they be picked up bodily and shifted.
It is common practice to pick up and carry objects of various shapes with the use of hand-operated wheel trucks, but it is extremely difficult to find a place to engage one of these trucks with an object having a configuration like that of a snowmobile. In the usual case, it becomes necessary to lift the object manually in order to engage the hand truck at all. When successful, the operation has to be done on the opposite sides of the machine, obviously requiring two men and two hand trucks.
One of the types of devices commonly used to pick up and transport objects utilizes wheels or casters in conjunction with a cam or over-center lifting arrangement having sufficient travel to elevate the object off the floor so that it can be supported by the wheels. These principles are utilized in conjunction with the conventional construction of snowmobiles that provides a peripheral guard bar at both front and rear. Any other object having a structurally similar configuration can also make use of this invention.